Carla Crespo is the Coordinator of Public Integrity at Transparency Mexicana and Ricardo Alvarado is a researcher for Mexicanos Contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad.
Editor’s note:
Expansión, Mexicanos Contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad y Transparencia Mexicana have produced since 2017 the special ‘The 500 Against Corruption: Corporate Integrity (IC500)’ and the IC500 Digital Platform . Its purpose is to publicize the advances in the anti-corruption commitment of the largest companies in the country, and constituted the first diagnosis and evaluation of the presence, quality, publicity and transparency with which the 500 most important companies in Mexico publicize their integrity policies.
Below, the authors of the article offer their views on developments in this area.
When the reforms to the General Law of Administrative Responsibilities and the Federal Criminal Code came into force in 2017, in matters of administrative and criminal responsibility of companies, and incorporating the figure of Corporate Integrity Policies, there were doubts about their scope to prevent , detect and punish acts of corruption in the private sector. Before everyone’s eyes, it was a David and Goliath-style fight. How could it be possible that, with some modifications to the law, corruption could be reversed, one of the country’s biggest problems and which limits growth and economic and social development?
Thus, we started a growing conversation about the relevance of corporate integrity policies and the role of companies in the anti-corruption agenda.
Five years away, from Corporate Integrity 500 we see progress in the number of companies that have incorporated Corporate Integrity Policies. In 2021, the average rating of the 500 most important companies in Mexico, in terms of corporate integrity, was 68.5 out of 100, 12% more than the average reached in 2020, 61 points out of 100, and 85% in relation to to the average of 2017, of 37 points.
Other indicators confirm the progress. In 2020, a company reached 100 points. In 2021, they add a total of 20 companies with the highest rating, in addition to 128 with a score higher than 90 points, and another 271 – more than half – with more than 80 points.
These years have served so that the dialogue on the importance of corporate integrity policies does not remain exclusively between large companies. From the chambers and business associations we see coordinated actions to promote the adoption of corporate integrity policies among its members.
Emphasis has been placed on the value for international markets of Mexican companies imposing anti-corruption standards: they become reliable partners with whom it is possible to do new business.
Nor has the federal government taken its finger off the line. Through the Business Integrity Register, a tool for voluntary use, companies can learn how to implement their Corporate Integrity Policy.
On all these fronts, there is a clear trend: the concept of corporate integrity is already installed in our country. We observe more frequently that in companies there is a comprehensive treatment of the rules of conduct to identify, avoid and, where appropriate, report acts of corruption: from bribery to the use of donations as a front for an illicit exchange of favors. It also states more clearly what is prohibited and, in particular, what is illegal, and what are the consequences of violating the rules that companies or the law have defined.
Although the progress is strong, we are in an initial stage of the conversation. Not only is it necessary for the rules to be clear, they have to be effective and serve the purposes for which they were created: that integrity policies serve to define the standard of conduct expected in the company, identify risks, prevent them and internally sanction violations to the law effectively and not just on paper. That they serve as a guide to assist governments in the detection and investigation of administrative offenses or crimes, so that the people and even the companies responsible are punished in accordance with the provisions of the law. Only in a coordinated and strategic way can we confront our Goliath of corruption.
What is the ranking of 500 companies against the corruption of IC500?
IC500’s work consists of showing the scope of the anti-corruption commitment of large companies in Mexico. Its methodology only measures the presence of minimum elements in the Compliance policies of the 500 and the criteria it uses are public. Therefore, all companies can improve their performance on the index from year to year. The database for previous years can be found at www.integridadcorporativa500.mx. We will soon present the full study for 2021, as well as the data for this year.
